Don Lemon Protests “I Am Not Supporting Stop-and-Frisk”

CNN anchor Don Lemon, reviled on social media for a commentary headlined, “STOP and FRISK: Would You Rather Be Politically Correct or Safe and Alive?” told Journal-isms categorically Wednesday, “I am not supporting stop-and-frisk” and said his remarks are being “grossly misinterpreted.”

Lemon’s commentary aired Tuesday on radio’s syndicated “Tom Joyner Morning Show” as New York voters were electing Democrat Bill de Blasio as the city’s next mayor.

De Blasio has been critical of the stop-and-frisk policy of the Michael Bloomberg administration, writing on his campaign website that his office of the Public Advocate had studied use of the tactic, and that, “This information strongly suggests racial profiling is used in stop-and-frisk, which sows seeds of distrust and animosity in communities of color toward the police.”

In his commentary, Lemon said, “if you question many people in New York City, even some black and Hispanic people, they will tell you that on the surface they don’t really have an issue with stop-question-and-frisk. Not the idea of it at least.”

But, he continued, “They know that officers will most likely not be that polite, if you can call that polite. They know that in reality they will probably be ordered to put their hands up, spread their legs, or lay on the ground and be handcuffed while an officer or officers have their ways with them; touching them wherever they’d like or handling them however they’d like.”